Glastonbury is many things to many people. For some, its draw is the ability to party into the small hours, often amidst the chaos of the site’s renowned South-East corner. For years, one of Glastonbury’s most hedonistic fields has been ruled by Arcadia – the sculptural art and dance collective known for their 50-tonne, mechanical fire-breathing spider. Said spider has toured the world, providing D‘n’B beats (and a few scorched eyebrows) to global festival goers, but this year, it was time for something new.
‘We have a problem with The Spider in that every year we brought it out, people seemed to like it even more,’ says Arcadia co-founder Pip Rush. ‘They were saying: “Whatever you do, don’t change the spider”, but we felt we needed a creative evolution. We were built off a bunch of people coming together and being creative – we needed some of that: a boost to do something new.’
